Motoring Discussion > Cats eye update. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Old Navy Replies: 10
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 10:02 
 Cats eye update. - Old Navy
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3223582/Is-end-road-cats-eyes-Solar-powered-lights-replace-outdated-reflective-studs.html

These new ones will have solar panels, batteries, and an electronic circuit. Are any of these as durable and robust as the glass eye or plastic reflector current cats eyes?

A whole new money making opportunity for the replacement of defective lights.
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 10:14 
 Cats eye update. - Bromptonaut
Looks like another piece of Mail reporters extrapolating wacky conclusions from official publications (see yesterday's stuff about the Hunter crash).

Illuminated cats eyes have been around for, I guess, nearly a decade. Seem to remember a report on HJ of them on a road in Cumbria and local 'yoofs' usn then to facilitate a 'challenge - drivng the road at speed with no lights.

Miles of them on the B4525 from Banbury towards the A43.
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 12:09 
 Cats eye update. - zippy
There is an unlit stretch on the A21 south of Lamberhurst that has these.

They really mark out the centre of the road at night so all in all a good thing really.
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 15:45 
 Cats eye update. - Armel Coussine
>> Illuminated cats eyes have been around for, I guess, nearly a decade.

Yes, there are some on the A24 in Surrey/Sussex, red and green. They are decorative in a way but they don't seem to me to be necessary.
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 19:12 
 Cats eye update. - VxFan
>> Illuminated cats eyes have been around for, I guess, nearly a decade.

Longer than that. Since 2002 on the A420 around the Faringdon area.
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 Sun 6 Sep 15 15:50 
 Cats eye update. - ....
I recall a number of years ago they were experimenting with cats eyes on the A61 north of Barnsley that would change colour when the road surface was at freezing temp.

I never saw them and have not heard of this went anywhere.
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 Mon 7 Sep 15 09:39 
 Cats eye update. - Zero

>> I never saw them and have not heard of this went anywhere.

Unlike the drivers in the ice, into the bushes probably.
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 Mon 7 Sep 15 23:37 
 Cats eye update. - Bobby
About 10 or so years ago there was a trial of these on the M* westbound approaching junction 6. I was pretty sure they were powered as opposed to solar but with hindsight that would have been impractical.

I can confirm that they were powerful enough to allow you to drive down the road at midnight with no lights on and stay in your lane :)
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 Mon 7 Sep 15 23:39 
 Cats eye update. - Bobby
Kind of freaky when you google "catseyes M8" and one of the first answers is my post from HJ back in 2004!
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=17320

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 Tue 8 Sep 15 08:33 
 Cats eye update. - Old Navy
>> I can confirm that they were powerful enough to allow you to drive down the
>> road at midnight with no lights on and stay in your lane :)
>>

No lights are not a good idea, you might come across a a late night Glaswegian with one foot firmly stuck to the road while trying to walk with the other one and also trying to eat a fish supper. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 8 Sep 15 at 08:34
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 Tue 8 Sep 15 10:21 
 Cats eye update. - J Bonington Jagworth
"A whole new money making opportunity"

Especially as they don't last. We had a stretch of road with these installed nearby, and they seemed to have a half-life of 12-18 months. After 5 years, virtually none of them worked, and they have now all been replaced with cheap reflective Toblerones, which work well enough when new, but come unglued occasionally. None lasts anything like as well as the old Percy Shaw design...
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